Robinhood embraces copy trading after warning competitors about regulatory risks

What a difference a changing regulatory environment makes.

Roughly nine months after suggesting that a young copy trading platform could only operate because it flew “under the radar” of regulators, Robinhood has announced its own entry into the space with “Robinhood Social,” a new feature that will allow users to follow and manually replicate the trades of prominent investors.

The move represents a striking about-face for the online brokerage, which has historically been cautious about features that could attract regulatory…